We've spent the last two years drowning in AI hype. Every conference, every pitch deck, every LinkedIn post (guilty as charged) has been about how AI will transform everything.

Right now, we've got it backwards. AI isn't Artificial Intelligence. It's Intelligent Assistance. A co-pilot, not an auto-pilot. And that distinction matters more than most of us realise.

I've seen this play out firsthand through two AI-powered ventures I'm involved in: LettsArt and LettsSafari. Both built with AI from the ground up. Both in deeply emotive spaces - art and nature restoration.

AI doesn't replace the human connection. It amplifies it.

LettsArt uses AI to help artists and gallerists build a career, and connect people with art that moves them. LettsSafari uses it to bring people, typically in urban settings, closer to wildlife conservation. Both empower people’s passions. The technology handles the complexity - the admin, the matching, the personalisation, the scale - so humans can focus on what they actually care about: the feeling.

That's the rebalancing I think we're heading towards.

The AI gold rush has produced a lot of noise. Automated outreach that nobody reads. Generated content that sounds like everyone else. A belief that less experienced, cheaper talent can figure things out.

But the pendulum always swings back.

In 2026, I suspect the winners will be those who use AI to create MORE human connection, not less. Who understand that technology should serve emotion, not replace it.

We don't need artificial anything. We need intelligent assistance that helps us be more human, not less.

The hype is fading. The real work is beginning.

📸 : Me “being human” at the recent HotTopics CMO Studio event.